Argentina’s security forces seized nearly 3,500 kilograms of marijuana ready for consumption in operations carried out in the provinces of Córdoba, Misiones, and Formosa.
In the morning hours of January 22, 2022, the Argentine National Gendarmerie intercepted a truck carrying more than 1,800 kg of marijuana at a vehicle checkpoint on National Route 11, in Formosa province.
“Upon inspecting the vehicle of Paraguayan make officers found that one of the security and protection seals placed on the semi-trailer was inverted,” the Gendarmerie said. “In addition, the numbering did not match the information declared in the International Cargo Manifest [customs transit declaration], which alerted uniformed personnel,” the Gendarmerie said.
During the operation, agents used the drug detection dog Jumbo. Upon seeing that the dog gave a signal, authorities began a more exhaustive inspection. “In the presence of witnesses, uniformed personnel found several bundles wrapped in burlap bags and black nylon, which contained packages similar to those used to transport narcotics,” the Argentine newspaper Ámbito Financiero reported.
NarcoTest field tests produced positive results for cannabis sativa. “A total of 1,801.7 kg was seized,” the Gendarmerie said. Authorities arrested the vehicle’s driver, a Paraguayan national, for drug possession and transport, the institution said.
On January 20, Naval Prefecture units seized 882 kg of the drug in two operations on the Paraná River bank. In the first operation, in the town of Corpus, Misiones province, personnel patrolling the Planchada Cué Natural Port saw a vessel stranded on the shore, with several packages on board.
“Upon searching the area and seizing the boat’s cargo, more than 752 kg of marijuana were found,” the Prefecture said in a statement. Criminals had distributed the drug among 997 bricks, the institution reported.
In the second operation, in the city of Itatí, Corrientes province, authorities seized more than 130 kg of marijuana on the Paraná River bank. “The discovery of the drug, which was distributed among 180 bricks, [occurred] in the early morning hours, on Gato Island,” Argentina’s Radio Dos reported.
On January 12, members of the Civil Brigades Coordination Department of the Córdoba province Police, together with the National Gendarmerie, seized nearly 800 kg of marijuana while searching for stolen vehicles. The find occurred during a raid on a warehouse that operated inside a car wash in the city of Córdoba, the Argentine newspaper El Litoralreported.
